12/4 More Than Slightly Off-Topic - Visiting London

This is certainly out of place, but I have been talking to a couple of old friends who are planning on visiting London next year, and this brought up some things I have been thinking of.  (I'm also going to post this in my blog about my trip to the UK this past summer.)

First, I have been to London several times in the past 25 years, and love the city because it has everything--history, shopping, dining, shows, and some unique places.  Each time I have gone, I have discovered a few more interesting places, most of which are not on the usual tourist routes.   

Most people, especially Americans, spend anywhere from 2 to 4 days in London.  That gives them time to see the following:

• The Tower of London (lovely place to spend an afternoon)
• Tower Bridge (go inside to see the operating machinery)
• Westminster Abbey (take a verger tour for the best experience)
• Big Ben (This is a bell, but most people refer to the tower as Big Ben, and you can only see that from the outside.) 
• Harrods (Visit the food court and buy some tea or a sandwich for a picnic lunch)
• The London Eye observation wheel (overpriced and long lines) 
• Horse Guards (maybe)

By the way, if someone tries to sell you a ticket to see Buckingham Palace, know that it is only open a couple of months each year, so that ticket is going to be mostly your standing outside the gates and looking at it from the front.  And the tower that holds Big Ben is NOT open to tourists, so you will only be looking at this from the windows of a bus or standing outside of it.  And Westminster Abbey is worth several hours, not 30 minutes!  In other words, don't be talked into a "tour" when you can walk or take the Tube there on your own and join the crowd looking at these places.  Do, however, check online to find out when the changing of the guard occurs and when there are horse or royal guard parades on streets.  And the hop-on-hop-off bus is a good idea.

Another tip is to research bank holiday dates and British school holidays.  Most British schools do not start summer breaks until mid-July, so late May and early June are good times to travel in the U.K. without extra crowds.  And don't even THINK of driving a car into London, Edinburgh, or York ANYTIME!  Take the train to those cities, and if you want to rent a car, check prices in small towns and rent from one of the big U.S. owned chains.   

The things-to-see list above is a legitimate list, but there are a lot of other things in London to see that are free or almost free and much more interesting.  For example, here is my list of places I like to visit, many of which are free:

• British Museum, Free. This is a whopper of a museum, so it cannot be done in one day.  Also, be prepared to wait in a long line to get in if you are there on a weekend or during the busy late summer season.  (On my last trip, my feet and back were hurting, and I told the guards at the entrance how old I was and asked was there some way to skip the long line.  They kindly let me go directly in!)   My favorite area is ancient Britain in this museum, though I have spent time in other areas.  
• Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, on Cromwell st.  https://www.vam.ac.uk/south-kensington.  Free.  You can't do all of this museum in one day either, so pick one area and visit it, then come back another day or another trip.  My favorite is the jewel collection in the basement where you can view more diamonds and precious stones than you can imagine.  Check out Queen Victoria's tiny crown here.  There is also an extremely nice gift shop in this museum, and if you walk past it, and out the center doors, you will find a lovely little garden and a cafe.  Good place to rest your feet and whatever else bothers you!  
• Natural History Museum, just west of the V&A.  https://www.nhm.ac.uk/.   Free.  It is mostly your typical dinosaur museum, but the inside of this building has a unique and incredible architecture.  Take the elevator to the second floor near the entrance, and look up at the ceiling where there are a couple hundred panels depicting living plants.  Also, take a walk through the little garden on the way back to the V&A, and see if you can find the two small Wollemi pine trees.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wollemia   These trees have been around as long as the dinosaurs, but were thought to be extinct until several were found in an Australian canyon.  
• Museum of London, Docklands, but soon to be Smithfield.  Free.  https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/  Unfortunately, the old London Museum in the Barbicon area has been closed for the past two years. It's Docklands museum is currently open, but it contains only part of its collection of London history.  The museum contains examples of Ancient and Roman life in London. The new museum is scheduled to open in late 2026 in Smithfield, which is not too far from its original location, and I somehow may make a quick trip to visit it sometime.    
• Banqueting House - About $6.  https://www.hrp.org.uk/banqueting-house/   If you are looking at the horse guards on Whitehall Street, just turn around and walk a hundred feet south and cross the street.  This historical building seems unassuming from the outside, but it was originally part of Whitehall Palace which was enlarged by Henry VIII and destroyed by fire in 1698.  Inside, there is a magnificent ceiling painted by Peter Paul Rubens.  There are tables with mirrors on them and beanbags on the floor you can sit or lie on to view the ceiling more easily.  Much more interesting than watching stupid tourists take selfies of themselves and the poor guard horses!!  
• Tate Modern, Tate Britain, National Gallery, and more.  London has quite a few art museums, and most of these are free.  Take your pick of one or two and enjoy the smaller crowds.  Tip: Restrooms are scarce in London because many restaurants do not like you dropping in just to use them.  When you need a restroom, a good place to look is in one of the free museums in London!!  Another place to find a restroom is one of the major chain clothing stores, such as Marks and Spencer, aka M&S.  
• All Hallows by the Tower, This is the oldest church in London is on the edge of where the London Fire was.  Free.  https://www.ahbtt.org.uk/.  When you are done visiting the Tower of London, head for the Tower Tube entrance just north of the tower, and look left or west down Tower Hill Street for a pointed church steeple. (Look for bits of Roman City of London walls around the subway entrance, also.)  Ignore all the modern tall office buildings and imagine yourself in the oldest part of London when it was founded in 675 A.D. by the Abbey of Barking. This makes this church 300 years older than Westminster Abbey!  And Roman ruins still exist in the church's crypt underneath the church, so make sure you go down the stairs to see this museum underneath. The inside of the outside walls of the church are blackened by bombing in WWII, but this church survived the Great Fire of London and a lot of other history.  It is a working church and was saved from the Great Fire by the diarist, Samuel Pepys, and Admiral Penn, the father of William Penn who founded Pennsylvania and was baptized in this church!  Also, John Quincy Adams was married in this church in 1797!  Pepys and Penn watched the fire from the tower and got permission from the Lord Mayor of London to have Navy sailors blow up and tear down wooden buildings that were feeding the fire, thus helping to put it out.  Note that this church and the one below are almost the only buildings surviving in this area of modern skyscrapers, certainly due to Samuel Pepys!  (His name is pronounced like those little yellow chicks sold at Easter--Peeps.)
• St. Olave's Church, Seething Lane. Free.  https://saintolave.com/  After leaving All Hallows, cross the street, and cut through the restaurant tables to find yourself on Seething Lane.  If you have read The Diary of Samuel Pepys, you will recognize the name of this street.  Pepys and his wife, Elizabeth, referred to this church as "Our Own Church, and attended services regularly, sitting in a dedicated Navy pew.  Both Samuel and Elizabeth are buried in the church in the nave.  (If you have not read this fascinating 11-year-long diary, you can follow it online at https://www.pepysdiary.com/.)  One interesting posting from his diary tells us that he and his wife dug a hole in his rear yard and buried two of their most important possessions--their silver and a Parmesan cheese!    
• Liberty London, 14 Great Marlborough St. This is a several story upscale store that sells sewing materials, some clothing, and other things for the home.  It is not ancient, but has a distinctive Tudor exterior and an interesting interior architecture. I have bought candles and stationery here, and it is all expensive, but excellent quality and good for gifts to take home.  Make sure you take the elevator and explore all of the levels. This whole area is filled with interesting shops and restaurants, so worth a couple of hours at least.  Just  east of the store is Carnaby Street, made famous by the Beatles.     
• Hamleys Toy Store, Just east of Liberty London, on Regent Street.  TripAdvisor describes this as "paradise on Earth for children, teens and adults."  It opened in 1881, and is several stories tall.  There are employees demonstrating toys throughout the store.  Take the escalator and ride up to each floor.  Fun place, even if you do not buy anything!  
• James Smith & Sons Umbrella Store,  New Oxford Street near Bloomsbury St.  This place was closed when I was there, but I could not resist peeking in all the windows.  This store was established in 1830, and I am certain this is where James Bond bought all of his umbrellas and canes!!  
• Oxford Street.  This is sort of a mile-long Times Square in London.  Need shoes?  There are at least 9 of them in a three-block area.  You will find every chain you have ever heard of on this street and thousands of people walking and shopping.  Enjoy! 

Slightly Outside of London - Good for a Day Trip 

• Hampton Court.  About $35 - $45 depending on peak or not peak time.  You can take a subway/train here or a lovely, relaxing boat ride that takes several hours and goes through a couple of Thames Locks.  This is the palace that Henry VII built and where his son, Henry VIII, lived and did all his dastardly deeds to his wives.  Take a tour and spend a few minutes afterwards in the rose garden if it is spring or early summer.  Worth 3-4 hours.  
• Windsor.  About $35 - $45.  This really deserves a couple of days, but you can do it in a day if pressed for time. Tube takes about an hour to get there. Need to take a tour of the palace and a stroll on the Long Walk.  Lots of nice shops near the train station, so enjoy window-shopping.  Lots of restaurants in the train station.   
• Kew Royal Botanical Gardens.  About $40. Tube ride is about 30 minutes.  Well worth two or three hours' visit. They have powered wheelchairs you can borrow at no cost if any are available.  I used one of these on a trip before I had my knees replaced.
• Greenich. This is literally where time starts for our clocks.  Visit the National Maritime Museum and wander around the port area.  And please pronounce it "Gren-itch," not "Green-itch."
• Stonehenge and Avebury.  You can take a day tour from London that includes Bath or Windsor, but you will not see much of each.  Better to find a tour that will take you to Stonehenge and Avebury, which is part of the Salisbury Plain ancient area.  You can also find a bus or train that will take you to the nearby town of Amesbury, where you can take a cab to Stonehenge and Avebury.  If you go to Avebury, check out the enormous and amazingly old trees that are holding up the roof of the visitor center!  

TIP: If you are a senior, ask for a senior or a "concession" admission ticket.  This will often save you a couple of GBPs.     

Places to Stay in London

Skip the Hiltons, Marriotts, Holiday Inns, and other big hotel chains that cater to American tourists, and try some British hotels.  When I started traveling to the U.K., I tended to look for cheap bed and breakfasts or small budget hotels.  As I have gotten older, I prefer something more reliable and consistent, so have switched to the budget chains in the U.K.  My favorite is Premier Inn, which is a lot like a Holiday Inn, but with an attached bar and restaurant.  Occasionally, the restaurant has limited menus for lunch and dinner, but nearly all have substantial breakfasts.  Premier Inn has some superior Premier Inn Plus hotels and some HUB hotels which have very small rooms with queen-sized beds and private bathrooms for a cheaper price and are good for one person who is not going to spend much time in their rooms.

My personal favorite Premier Inn is a Hub Westminster on Tothill Street.  It is a block from Westminster Abbey and the Thames, and a block the other direction from the St. James subway station.  It also has a Pret a Manger takeout restaurant half a block away and there is a Starbucks on the way to the Tube in case you need a morning coffee or iced tea,  It is also close to the Horse Guard Parade and Buckingham Palace and the Mall.  In other words, it is close to almost everything! 

There are also Travelodges, Ibis Hotels, and some Holiday Inns which qualify as budget hotels. 

One BIG TIP I learned about last summer:  If you are going to be in London in July or August, make sure your hotel has air conditioning!  Global warming is making things a bit hotter during the summer, but the British have really not kept up with air conditioning, so don't assume it is available at your hotel!!!!!  Most older hotels still rely on opening windows to cool off rooms, and I had a few very uncomfortable nights in hotels without AC.  I could open windows, but almost no U.K. buildings have screens, and I worried about insects and birds coming in.  In one memorable instance, I stayed three nights with my windows opening onto a main road in a town.  I was on the second floor (or first floor, per U.K. naming) and there were cars without mufflers and some shouting drunks on the sidewalk most of the night!   

Any other suggestions from anyone??? 

 

 

11/29 Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

This is one of my favorite places in Florida. A lot of people think of a swamp as a mosquito-ridden, smelly and ugly place, but this one should convince anyone how beautiful they can be.  This one is the largest remaining tract of old-growth bald cypress trees and is full of huge ferns, orchids and other air plants depending on when you visit, birds, and alligators.  This one has a 2.5 mile boardwalk, and is best visited on a cooler day, as you can get really hot on such a long walk.  I took along a frozen bottle of ice that slowly melted and lasted me the almost three hours I was there. 

Here are some photos.  And surprisingly, it was not busy today, as I feared it would be, so the parking lots were almost empty.  Nice to be there on a day when there were not a lot of noisy visitors scaring the birds away.  Below is the entrance. 

 

 

I had the whole RV and bus parking area to myself.  Even had some shade!

 

 

A really nice visitor center with a good store if you are looking for shirts or other stuff.  I got a shirt with owls and one with baby swimming alligators.  

There is a very nice visitor center with a gift shop, rest rooms, and a snack machine.  Don't forget that this is a long boardwalk, so bring a bottle or two of water with you. 

 

This chalkboard is at the start of the boardwalk, and people enter the birds they have seen on that day, as they exit after their walk.  

  

This is the start of the boardwalk, just outside the visitor center.  If you want to see birds, you need to wear shoes with rubber soles and walk as quietly as you can, stopping occasionally to look and listen.  And please control screaming kids who run and make noise!   

 

 

It is hard to show how tall some of these trees are.  

 

 

This is an American white ibis.  You can distinguish an ibis from the white great egret because its bill is curved down, while the egret has a straight, pointed bill.  

 

This boardwalk was built in the late 1980s, so this tree had time for its trunk to grow around it.

 

You know those little Boston ferns you buy in the store?  This scene shows some of them and a lot of other ferns.  Also, almost every tree with have air plants growing on it.  

There is a variety of small changes in the height of areas inside the sanctuary that occur when there is more or less rain in Florida.  Just a few inches deeper or more shallow can cause different kinds of trees and plants to grow.  The water level also varies by the time of year, which affects plant growth and whether or not specific birds can find a meal in an area.  

 

 

Love this swampy view below!  And by the way, there are very few mosquitos most of the year in a healthy swamp because of natural predators.  I am very susceptible to mosquito bites, and I have never been bitten in the Corkscrew!

 

 

This photo shows a tree with many branches of a strangler fig growing on it.  What is interesting about this plant is that its seed germinates in the top of trees.  It lives as an air plant until it can send shoots down to the ground, at which point, it becomes a free-standing tree.  At that point, its shoots encircle the host tree, and it dies.  

 

 

Two enormous and ancient cypress trees!!  

 

 

More photos of the boardwalk.  There are benches and places to sit in the shade, by the way, just in case the day is hot.   

 

 

The tree has a strangler fig that has fallen over and is now helping to hold the host tree up.  

 

 

 

 

 

The photo above shows a great egret fishing and hiding behind a plant.  Finally, I was able to get a better photo as it walked out where I could see it better.  Note the straight beak.  It's also a little bigger than an ibis.

 

 

The stuff floating on this section of the sanctuary is duckweek, NOT slime.  Tiny fish live in the water of this swamp, and they eat the larva of mosquitos.   

 

 

This is the tail end of a little blue heron, but he refused to face the camera, so this was the best I could do! 

 

 

And this is a great blue heron in breeding plumage.  

This is an anhinga, He is also called a snakebird because he his long neck makes him look like a snake when he swims.  

 

 

And this is an alligator on a log.  Some people said they saw teeth, which would make him a crocodile, but I cannot see teeth, and generally crocodiles live in brackish water much farther south in the Everglades. 

 

 

Two more trees growing around the boardwalk!  Their bark looks like it puddled on the boards.  

 

 

Almost back to the visitor center.  This area is swampy but full of grass, and deer hang around here.  

I plan on coming back here in January or late February.  There will be different birds and possibly some flowers in bloom then. 

 

11/14 Marie Selby Botanical Garden, Downton Sarasota, FL

I've added the word "Downtown" to this posting because there is also another Marie Selby Botanical Garden a few miles south of this one.  I have been here several times in the past years, but they have been expanding and remodeling the entire place, so I wanted to see the new stuff.  

Below is the new garage and ticket area, plus a map of the place.  Only problem with the garage is that i cannot fit my motorhome into it.  Luckily, I have a rental car this week.  

 

 

   

This is a wonderful place to visit on a warm and sunny day because while it is within a couple of blocks of downtown Sarasota and its big high-rise hotels and office building, it is also directly on the bay and gets wonderful breezes all year round!  Lots of benches and places to just sit and enjoy the plants and also the views of the bay.  This botanical garden has always focused on orchids and other air plants, which they do very well.  

The biggest change to the gardens is that originally there was a road separating the garden from a couple of dirt parking lots.  They have built a new four-story parking garage and completely closed the street, making it into a brick walkway.  There is a new ticket purchase area, and a new gift shop on the first floor of the garage. There is also a new restaurant with inside and outside service under garage and closer to the main street.  I did not check it out, but it is apparently a full-service restaurant.   

So, here goes with some photos of the incredible variety of orchids on display:  

 

 

After seeing all the orchids, I headed outside to walk around the rest of the property, and found these growing on a fence.  I don't know how many plants this was, but it was incredible. 

A close-up of the individual flowers.

The rest of the botanic garden includes plant and trees planted by Mrs. Selby's gardener and newer ones planted in the 70s after it became a non-profit facility.  

Some views of the very old trees planted in about 1920.  Hard to get one entirely in a single photo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Views of the point of land this garden is on and the bay along with downtown Sarasota. 

 

 

Employees were setting up butterflies and other displays for an upcoming exhibit.   

This is part of a new children's play area.  

There is also a little ice cream and hot and cold sandwich cafe in the house that Marie Selby lived in, and you can eat inside or outside on the patio.  I grabbed an ice cream bar and a cup of ice water, and just sat at an empty table inside for a few minutes to rest my feet and back.  

 

 

This year I happened to visit about a month earlier than two years ago.  This was very lucky, because it meant I was able to visit the annual orchid show, whereas two years ago I missed it entirely.  Much nicer if you can get in during that special show because the orchids, which I will be showing below were fantastic! Unfortunately, the display of carnivorous plants was closed because they are working on Phase 2 of their remodeling, and that part is now fenced off as under construction.  Will be completely finished in two years!